Special Section: Ongoing coverage of Gov. Scott Walker's controversial budget-repair bill and the battle over the 2011-'13 state budget

Madison — Katrina Ladopoulos says she hesitated before picking up the phone last Tuesday night and calling in sick to work Wednesday.

Ladopoulos said she felt that she was letting down her second- and third-grade students at Crestwood Elementary in the Madison Metropolitan School District, and at 10 p.m. she ended the call knowing she might wake up in the morning and go to work anyway.

"But I kept thinking about all the protesters in Tahrir Square, and how they were protesting for what they believed in even though their lives were in danger, and I thought, if they can face that, then I can be here facing this," Ladopoulos, 40, said Monday on the floor of the rotunda. "Because I haven't been in school, I feel like it's been my job to be here."

As the protests to a proposed bill that calls for public workers to give up most bargaining rights and to pay more for health care and pension costs dragged into a new week Monday, teachers who have been with the fight in Madison from the beginning - particularly, the teachers from the local district - continued to rally and said it would be hard to return to school Tuesday.

John Matthews, executive director of Madison Teachers Inc., said union members would continue to protest at the Capitol against Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill before and after school.

The teachers' return to work will likely end the district's court fight to get them back in the classroom.

The district, which has canceled classes since Wednesday because of teacher absenteeism, sought an injunction in Dane County Circuit Court on Friday to force teachers back to work, but a judge refused to issue a temporary restraining order. The Madison teachers union voted Sunday to return to work Tuesday.

Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association President Mike Langyel, who spoke at the Capitol on Monday, said his members will also return to work Tuesday and "take the fight home" by leading rallies around Milwaukee for the rest of the week. Langyel said the MTEA will have a rally outside its offices Tuesday night.

Kids in tow

With schools off for four days in Madison, many public school children have spent the past few days scrambling around the marble steps of the state Capitol while their parents engage in demonstrations against Gov. Scott Walker's proposals.

"We've brought our workbooks, coloring books and puzzles, and we packed our lunches," said Tia Keenan, a nurse represented by the Service Employees International Union who has children ages 3, 6 and 9. She's been working a night shift over the past week, so in the mornings the kids pack their backpacks like they're going to school and come with her to the Capitol instead.

"My 9-year-old can tell you about the purpose of collective bargaining and what (Gov. Scott Walker's) proposal is all about," Keenan said. Her children played on the marble steps, dodging lost markers and a half-eaten box of Oreos.

"I've tried to reinforce that these are not fun days, these are workdays," she said.

The multi-day protests by Monday had developed an unusual but predictable routine: the deafening drums and horns and voices yelling inside the Rotunda, the call-and-response chanting, the marching in and out of and around the building, the bedrolls and backpacks and mattresses tucked around pillars, waiting to be pulled out for another night.

Ladopoulos, the Crestwood Elementary School teacher, had earplugs in her pocket Monday to guard against the noise. But she was as close to the drum circle in the center of the rotunda as she'd been since coming to the Capitol last Wednesday morning, and she didn't want to miss anything.

A backpack containing her laptop and snacks sat at her feet. She declined going to lunch with colleagues; she said she wanted to save the cash in case her pay gets docked for missing school.

In her opinion, giving up the right to bargain collectively means she can't serve the children as well at her school because she and her fellow teachers won't have a say in how many students they have to teach, or the length of their school day. She doesn't like the idea of paying more for health care and her pension, but she's willing to do it.

Unlike in Milwaukee, where MPS Superintendent Gregory Thornton threatened teachers with discipline if they called in sick to attend the protests in Madison last week, Ladopoulos said it seemed like there was an undercurrent of understanding for the teachers in Madison.

At school, she said, people have left decorations in the building and balloons on their doors. The principal has treated them kindly, and parents have wished them good luck, Ladopoulos said.

However, spokespeople from both Milwaukee's and Madison's school districts have said that teachers missing from school in the recent days will have to provide medical excuse slips if they called in sick.

Milwaukee School Board President Michael Bonds asked MPS to not make threats of discipline against teachers Monday. He said any action against teachers should follow the protocol outlined in the contract.

Langyel responded that his organization would defend every teacher who missed school because of the demonstrations.

"Our members did a good thing advocating for our students in Madison," he said.

Mike Johnson of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.